Means for fixing railway rails



Dec. 13, 1949 R. HEYERDAHL-LARSEN ET AL 2,490,962.

MEANS FOR FIXING RAILWAY RAILS Filed Oct. 14, 1946 Patented Dec. 13, 1949 MEANS FOR FIXING RAILWAY RAILS Rei'dar Heyerdahl-Larsen and Elna-r Backe-Hansen, Oslo, Norway Application October 14, 1946,. Serial No. 703,132! In Norway N ovcmber 18,.1942

Section 1, Public Law 690", August 8", 1946' Patent expires November 18,1962.

Claims. 1

This invention relates to means for fixing railway rails to their supporting chairs by means of a.- resilient wedge.

Various means of this kind have already been proposed. A common feature of many of these is that the chair is provided with a rib, running intthe longitudinal direction of the rail, of which one side acts as a guide for the rail in the chair and the other side acts as a part of the guide track into which the resilient wedge is driven. Aicommonfeature ofmost of these devices is also that the resilient wedge is made from a piece of steel plate which is bent through an angle of about 180 insuch a manner that it has a more or less hairpin-like section. The wedge is then frequently shaped in such a: manner that one of the arms formed by bending the steel plate is longer than the other, this arm being pressed against the base flange of the rail in order to hold this firmly on the sleeper, while the short arm is received in a guide which is formed by the previously mentioned rib and by another rib or the like the chair. which is spaced, from the first mentioned rib and parallel to it.

Thefastening means of. the presentdiffersfrom the previously known devices in that the guide into which the. resilient wedge is driven and the wedge are shaped in such a manner that the pressure against the rail is produced by an upwardly directed pressure exerted by the chair against. a part of the resilient wedge; The invention, moreover, enables one to have a fairly free hand with regard to the choice of the pressure to be exerted against the rail, since the effective length of the armvof the resilient wedge which presses against therail can be chosen without regard to the dimensions of the wedge guide or track itself and in. spite of the point of contact between the wedge and the rail remaining the same.

To obtain these results, the fastening device comprisesa: chair-and a resilient wedge and the chair is provided, at least on one side, with a projecting rib which runs along the side edge of the base flange of the rail, which rib acts on the one hand as a guide for the flange of the rail and on the other-handserves for fixing thewedge and is also provided witha ribor groove which is parallel-to and spaced from the first-mentioned rib and forms the other sideof the guide for the wedge and the resilient wedge. is in the form of a platehaving a long arm which passes over the rib extends to the vicinity of the base flange of the rail and abuts against the upper face of the flange and a short arm, formed at an angle of approximately with the long arm, which engages between. the two ribs, or between the one rib and the groove in the chair, and, in accordance withthe invention, there'is provided on the underside of the short arm a pressure foot which runs parallel to the front edge of the arm and at. the same distance therefrom as the distance between the two ribs on the chair, or between the onerib and the groove in the chair, which foot bears against the upper side of the chair inside the outermost rib, .or in the bottom of the groove in the chair, a part of the said foot or chair where they come into, contact being formedas a wedge, so that the introduction of the resilient wedge in the longitudinal direction ot the rail between the two ribs. or between the one: rib and the. groove in the chair, effects a tiltin movement of the resilient wedge about the pointofi contact of the: short arm against the one rib and causes the other arm to press against the upper side of the base flange of the rail.

In order that the invention may be easily understood and readily carried into effect, two forms of a. rail fastening device constructed in accordance with. the invention are illustrated by way of example invthe accompanying drawing, in which:

Figure 1' shows. the chairv with the resilient wedge in position and the rail clamped to the chair;

Figure 2. isa plan ofFigure 1;

Figure 3 is a side, elevation of the resilient wedge itself;

Figure 4 is aside elevation of the wedge shown in Figure 3, and

Figure 5 a modifiedform of construction of the-wedge.

Referring to the drawing, the. numeral I in Figures 1,.2, 3. and 4: indicates the chair which, in the form of. construction illustrated in these figures is used for fixing a rail 9 by clamping the-base flange. Ill of the rail against the chair plate by, means of a. resilient wedge 3. In the chair there are provided. wedge guides. I i. into which thewedges3 canabe driven. These guides comprise tworibs- 2 which are provided one on each side of the/basev l0 of the rail and haveoverhanging upper parts l2 as well as ribs 4 which are arranged parallel to the ribs 2 and laterally to the outsidethereof.v The. chairs can be fastened to thesleepersby-meanaof boltsfi.

, 'Ilheresilient wedge- 3: is: illustrated: separately in. Figure; Be It. is formed: from a. steel plate in such a manner that a longer arm l3 and a shorter arm M are formed which are at an angle of approximately 180 or greater with each other. Near the point from which the longer and shorter arms 13 and I4 extend, there is provided, in the form of construction illustrated in Figure 3, a pressure foot I. The pressure foot I is inclined or bevelled off at one end of the wedge in such a manner as to form a wedge surface 6 and a surface at the place where the pressure foot meets the arm M as shown in Fig. 4.

When the resilient wedge is to be used it is driven lengthwise into the guide Ii whereby the foot 1 is pressed down against the chair plate I when the front end l5 of the short arm 14 bears against the underside of the rib 2 in such a manner that a tilting movement about the point of contact between the front edge l5 of the short arm I A and the overhanging part iii of the rib 2 is caused to take place which causes the front edge 16 of the long arm i3 to press against the upper side of the flange ill of the rail 9.

A particularly advantageous form of construction of the resilient wedge is shown in Figure 5. The wedge illustrated in this figure is made by bending a steel plat into the shape shown whereby the distance between the front edge 15' of the short arm 14' and the pressure foot I on the under side of the short arm M may easily be made any desired distance. The long arm !3' can then be extended, as shown, in such a manner that the long arm 19 and a part of the short arm Hi contribute towards the resiliency of the wedge.

As will be understood, either form of the fastening device may be modified by omitting the rib 4 or i and providing instead of it a groove in the chair the foot i being adapted to fit into the groove. It will also be understood that, instead of forming a wedge surface 6 on the resilient wedge 3, a correspondin wedge surface may be formed in the chair alongside the rib 4 or in the bottom of the groove in the case when a groove is employed instead of the rib 4.

We claim:

1. Means for fastening a railway rail comprising a resilient wedge and a chair, said resilient wedge being insertable lengthwise in said chair, a projecting rib on a side of said chair which extends along the side edge of the base flange of the rail and acts on the one hand as a guide for the flange of the rail and'serves on the other hand for fixing the wedge in conjunction with a groove in said chair which is parallel to and spaced from the said rib and forms the other side of the guide for said resilient wedge, said resilient wedge being in the form of a plate having a lon arm which passes over the said rib in said chair and abuts against the upper surface of the flange of the rail and a short arm connected to said long arm which engages between the said rib on said chair and the said groove in said chair, a pressure foot on the underside of said short arm parallel to the free edge of said short arm and at the same distance from the said free edge as the distance between the said rib on said chair and said groove on said chair, said pressure foot adapted to bear against the upper side of said groove in said chair, said foot being formed where it initially comes into contact with said groove in said chair with a Wedge shaped surface, whereby introduction of said resilient wedge in the longitudinal direction of the rail between the said rib and the said groove in said chair causes said resilient wedge to tilt about the point of contact of said short arm with said rib and said long arm to press against the upper side of the base flange of said rail due to the action of said wedge shaped surface on said pressure foot in said groove.

2. Means for fastening a railway rail comprising a supporting plate, a projecting rib on the upper side of said supporting plate extending along a side edge of the base flange of the rail, the upper end of said projecting rib being bent in a direction away from the rail to form an overhanging portion, said projecting rib forming one side of a guide channel, means spaced from said projecting rib away from the rail and extending parallel thereto forming a second side of said guide channel, a resilient wedge slidably mounted in said guide channel, said resilient wedge comprisin a plate member having a long curved arm extending over said projecting rib to the base flange of the rail and a short relatively straight arm, a projection comprising a pressure foot extending below said resilient wedge approximately at the point of juncture of said long and short arms, said pressure foot being wedge shaped at a point in proximity to an end thereof and taperin gradually to a fiat reduced dept-h end portion, the inward end of said short arm abutting against the underside of said overhanging portion and said pressure foot abutting against said second side of said guide channel, the free end of said long arm pressing against the upper side of the .base flange of said rail when said resilient wedge is driven lengthwise into said guide channel for causing a tilting movement of said resilient wedge about the point of contact of said short arm with said overhanging portion due to said wedge shaped portion of said pressure foot.

3. Means for fastening a railway rail as claimed in claim 2, said means spaced from said projecting rib comprising a second projecting rib on the upper side of said supporting plate. 4. Means for fastening a railway rail as claimed in claim 2, said resilient wedge being formed from a plate, the end of said long arm being bent through an angle greater than 189 with respect to the short arm to form a resilient elbow joining said arms.

5. Means for fastening a railway rail as claimed in claim 2, said short arm being doubled back upon itself and having the free end portion thereof bent at an angle thereto and forming said pressure foot extending below said wedge, the doubled end portion of said short arm forming said inward end of said short arm contacting said overhanging portion of said projecting rib.

REIDAR HEYERDAHL-LARSEN. EINAR BACKE-HANSEN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in th file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,926,088 Faries et al Sept. 12, 1933 1,942,464 Willard Jan. 9, 1934 2,190,999 Stowell Feb. 20, 1940 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 114,325 Sweden Apr. 26, 1945 

